A Light In The Darkness

The moment you start lighting a candle, you can make a good guess of how long the candle can last you. However, it will never be the same when it comes to human life. When the death is calling, it can take anyone away at anytime.

Christmas is just around the corner and my family was happily planning for a Christmas party at the beginning of last week. All of the sudden, we received a call from my aunt (my mom’s younger sister) who told us that her husband was sent to the hospital since he had difficulties to breathe. My mom and I rushed to the hospital to visit him. It was sad to see him being intubated, especially he went into coma and his conditions remained critical as he was having a pleural effusion and high fever at the same time. After seeing him, our worries arose a lot more because he already had heart disease 10 years back and his heart had stopped once when he arrived the emergency room. His doctor also strongly emphasized that he could not proceed to have a heart surgery unless his high fever was gone. Unfortunately, his fever got higher and higher day after day and eventually he passed away at the tender age of 54 last Friday.

Life is incredibly fragile. No one can predict what happens next. A week before last Friday, we had dinner together and he looked all healthy at that time. Who knew the entire situation could turn upside down in a week?  Although my aunt and her sons didn’t cry much in front of us, the swollen eyes of my aunt and their tried faces could tell how traumatizing it was to them. I know it is extremely  hard for them to accept it (even my family and I), what happened already happened. I just hope time heals the pain of their loss.

Here I am lighting a candle to be the tribute to my uncle. Hope the light of the candle not only shows my respect to him, but also brings light to the darkest time of my aunt and cousins.